Stanford's Mitch Johnson, left, falls after being fouled by Washington's Darnell Gant during the first half. Johnson's an O'Dea grad and son of former SuperSonic John Johnson.
(Danny Moloshok | Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES - Huskies make it three in a row over Stanford; can they do the same to ASU?

A championship performance?

Nah. Not even close.

Still, give credit where credit is due. The Washington Huskies did what champions do Thursday afternoon, overcoming a subpar performance to scrap their way to an 85-73 triumph over Stanford in the quarterfinals of the Pacific-10 Conference men's basketball tournament.

The Huskies, the regular-season champions of the Pac-10, won their tournament debut despite 21 turnovers, 20 fouls and countless blown shots an arm's length from the basket. An announced crowd of 14,732 — that's tickets distributed, with several thousand ticket holders not on hand — looked on at the Staples Center.

"But we did a good job in the second half of sharing the ball and converting."

The top-seeded, 13th-ranked Huskies (25-7) advance to the semifinals against fourth-seeded, 23rd-ranked Arizona State (23-8).

"Another tough opponent," Romar said. "Arizona State just plays us to the wire."

The Huskies swept ASU in the regular season. Washington also swept Stanford, but both games were close, and the ninth-seeded Cardinal (18-13) chased the Dawgs to the end Thursday.

Washington led only 73-68 before settling the outcome during a steady march to the free-throw line in the final five minutes.

The Huskies led 38-35 at intermission (thanks partly to 3-for-3 shooting on 3-pointers late in the half by freshman reserve Ellison Turner) despite 35 percent shooting from the field. Washington scored 47 points in the second half on 61 percent shooting.

Freshman guard Isaiah Thomas, Washington's leading scorer this season, went scoreless in the first half (along with fellow starter Quincy Pondexter) after missing all six of his shots.

Early in the second half, the 5-foot-8 Thomas ignited the Husky offense by attacking the rim with some of his trademark drives through traffic. He finished with 14 points, and Pondexter added 11.

Jon Brockman moved past Todd MacCulloch into third place on the all-time Husky scoring list by pouring in 20 points. Brockman also grabbed eight rebounds, but the diminutive Thomas was delighted to point out that he beat out the massive Brockman for rebounding honors with a season-high nine.

"I said something to him," Thomas said with a wicked grin. "He just laughed it off. He said, 'That'll never happen again.'"

Stanford piled up 18 points and 18 fouls and shot just 36 percent, including 29 percent (8 for 28) on 3-pointers. The Huskies wound up shooting 46 percent, including 56 percent on 3's (5 for 9).

"I thought we resorted to the 3 a little too early," said Goods, whose team may wind up in a postseason tournament. "It took its toll on us. They were able to come down and drive to the basket, get fouled and hit their free throws."